Whether you’re a manufacturer, wholesaler, supplier, retailer or brand owner, there are significant benefits to gathering and understanding your business data. New BFA Partner Kleene is on a mission to help companies get value from their data by creating a “single source of truth”. To find out more, we spoke to Kleene’s Director of Partnerships and Alliances, Wesley Amos, to find out why data is the next footwear frontier.
As a small business owner, you might not think you’ve got much of a handle on your company’s data. But you’re using data every time you download an excel spreadsheet and attempt to manipulate the information it contains to benefit your business.
For SMEs and larger businesses, there’s a wealth of information within your social platforms, CRM, e-commerce platform, electronic point of sale system, and email newsletter provider. The challenge is channelling all this into a single data stream that can be easily understood and utilised to add value to your operation.
Andrew Thomas and Matt Sawyer, the co-founders of new BFA Partner Kleene, recognised there was a gap in the market for software that can create a “single source of truth” for businesses without large and established data personnel in place. They created Kleene to “combine all data sources in one place, translate them into one language and organise everything to make it easier for teams to work with”. So, where did the idea come from? Thomas and Sawyer first met at online food ordering company, Just Eat and later worked at companies like Not on the High Street and Trainline.com.
On their respective career paths, they encountered the same issue: capitalising on data required a time-consuming and costly investment in people and infrastructure. The value of data was taking too long to access for businesses at all stages of growth and development. “The idea for Kleene came from trying to level this playing field so that every business can use data and not just big players,” explains Wesley Amos, director of partnerships and alliances.
Kleene specialises in helping individuals, teams and businesses make decisions backed by data. Imagine an omnichannel footwear business with retail stores, an e-commerce website, newsletter marketing and social media – all in play simultaneously. Perhaps they want to get to know their customers better, but all the data about what they like, what time of day they shop, what colours they are drawn to, and how regularly they make a purchase is living inside other platforms, like Salesforce.
“Essentially, this is what our software automates,” Amos explains, “bringing all your data from different systems across your business into a single source of truth. This single location is a data warehouse where different data points can be blended so that non-technical users can slice-and-dice data and ask questions of it.”
For footwear businesses without data personnel, Kleene also has a professional services arm that allows companies to tap into its knowledge before they can “hand back the keys”. Amos adds: “We accelerate businesses by giving them professional services and support until they are at a point where they’re ready to take over.” On this journey, companies begin the see the value their data can bring, and the mindset around data usage starts to shift. Rather than one or two people using data visualisation tools in-house, Kleene “democratises” information so that individuals across finance, marketing, and sales teams can benefit equally. “We talk about making everyone in the business an analyst,” Amos says. “Not in the sense that they know how to code, but by having the mindset of asking questions of data.”
Kleene powers this “self-serve” shift so people can tap into data when they need it rather than having to email a beleaguered data analyst or, worse, ignore it completely. This also has the additional benefit of ensuring that access to and an understanding of data stays in-house within your business rather than being owned and controlled by a third party. As a result, you’re less likely to be in the dark.
Amos notes that by looking at Excel spreadsheets and other data sources at the end of the month, you’re always reactive. With Kleene, however, “you can make decisions proactively during a month versus having to wait to the end of the month, do your reports, and then figure out that something went wrong.”
Today, Kleene has a strong track record with direct-to-consumer e-commerce retailers and manufacturers, which stands it in good stead to support the footwear sector. “It’s not always about acquiring more customers, but capitalising on the ones you already have,” Amos says. “Being able to see everything together, including store data and online data, and mix the two is what can lead to growth from existing customers.”
So, whether you’re starting from zero or looking to improve your existing data infrastructure, there’s a reason to reach out to Kleene. BFA Members can log in to the Resources Area to watch a recent webinar recording with the team. You can also learn more about this great BFA Partner here.
As a special benefit for BFA Members, Kleene is offering a complimentary data assessment with discounted rates. Find out more here. This is a great opportunity to uncover opportunities in your data infrastructure and the benefits you could obtain. Kleene will help you identify your data sources and streamline information to drive outcomes that translate into real business value.